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OTTAWA—The Senate asked external auditors examining the travel expenses of Sen. Pamela Wallin to broaden their investigation over concerns she was claiming refunds for activity unrelated to Senate business, the Star has learned.

The Senate subcommittee that had ordered external reviews of the expenses of four senators — Wallin, Mike Duffy, Mac Harb and Patrick Brazeau — met on April 16 to hear an oral report from auditors at the forensic accounting firm Deloitte on what they had found.

Senators on the subcommittee believed what they heard from the auditors about Wallin was inconclusive, but the travel expenses displayed a pattern they found concerning enough to recommend lengthening the time frame by one year to get a clearer picture, according to sources.

Those initial findings suggested “a pattern of claiming Senate expenses on personal or other business unrelated to the Senate, including boards she sits on,” said one source who spoke on the condition of anonymity in the absence of authorization to discuss the Wallin matter.

The revelation comes as the attention on Parliament Hill is focused on the news that the RCMP is now also probing the Senate spending scandal, which has already led to resignations from both the Conservative and Liberal caucus and claimed Nigel Wright, who stepped down as chief of staff to Prime Minister Stephen Harper this week over his decision to personally cover the $90,172 in living expenses improperly claimed by Duffy.

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Deloitte agreed on April 23 to continue its investigation into Wallin, who announced last Friday she was leaving the Conservative caucus while the auditors completed their probe.

Wallin declined to answer a series of questions the Star sent by email this week about the scope of the audit or whether she had ever claimed she was on Senate time — therefore having her travel expenses covered by taxpayers — while she was on personal business or doing work for the Conservative party.

“As I am sure you can understand, I cannot answer questions at this time. I am co-operating fully and willingly with the external auditors and I look forward to an objective review of my expenses. When that review is complete, I will willingly answer any and all questions,” Wallin wrote in an email Wednesday.

Senate quarterly expense reports for the period from Sept. 1, 2010, to Feb. 28 this year show Wallin claimed just $30,238 for “regular” travel between Ottawa and Saskatchewan, while billing $321,842 for “other” travel to elsewhere in Canada and around the world.

The former broadcast journalist sits on a number of corporate boards, which her personal website lists as including Porter Airlines and Gluskin Sheff & Associates Inc., a wealth management firm with offices in Toronto and Calgary.

She has also been a popular guest at Conservative fundraisers and other events since her Senate appointment in 2008.

Conservative Party of Canada spokesman Fred DeLorey said in an email Thursday that local electoral distraction associations would have covered her expenses if she was appearing at events on their behalf.

Elections Canada documents show Wallin billed the campaign of Conservative MP Ray Boughen $347.57 to cover her hotel, car rental and a per diem associated with her appearance with the candidate in Moose Jaw, Sask., on April 13, 2011.

Elections Canada rules stipulate that a senator appearing on behalf of a candidate must be reimbursed by the campaign for any related expenses, or else their accommodation, travel and other costs count as non-monetary contributions.

But according to an email in the Elections Canada file on Boughen, the campaign did not decide to ask Wallin for an invoice until April 22, 2011, as a way to balance the books and avoid having to go through the cumbersome process of issuing receipts for the small amounts they received from supporters at a rally featuring the senator.

Campaigns do not have to disclose details of contributions if they are less than $20 and collected at an event such as the one in Moose Jaw.

Dean Klippenstine, official agent for that campaign, confirmed those details. “I told her submit expenses and an honorarium and we’d pay it, because I didn’t want to have to issue a whole bunch of pain-in-the-ass receipts,” Klippenstine said in a telephone interview on Thursday.

In an email to the Star sent on Tuesday, Wallin confirmed she attended the event with Boughen and said she had “no knowledge of the issue referred to” in the email in the Elections Canada file.

Wallin did not say whether she had planned to submit an invoice for her expenses before the campaign requested she do so.

Correction - May 31, 2013:
This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said the Boughen campaign asked Sen. Pamela Walling to submit an invoice for her expenses on April 22 this year.

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